Angus says it was about batting positions, Higgins replies on Twitter to say that it wasn't about batting positions, it was about opportunity. If they can't even agree on the reason they're giving, it probably didn't go particularly nicely or smoothly.

Gareth Berg has made a point of congratulating him on his move. Perhaps a little dig at the club?

The problem these days is that some coaches are willing to 'guarantee' someone a place if they change counties. Giles apparently did it with every one of his signings, and it looks like Gloucestershire have done the same thing.

I've no idea if he's got it in writing, but no one should be guaranteed a place. He hasn't even got a championship 50 yet (although his dogged 45 did help us beat warwickshire)

So, I wonder how long that 'guarantee' lasts. If he's averaging under 20 after six matches, do they have to carry on picking him?

Same daft thing that Matthew Maynard did with Ryan Davies at Somerset, who had all of about six first-class matches behind him when he moved from Kent.

But if Ashley Giles did make guarantees then he would seem to have already broken one of them as Adam Hose would have had Somerset's blessing to play vs Hants, yet he did not do so. Perhaps Hose's guarantee applied only to white ball cricket.

The irony of the Iceman liking the tweet re Higgins move could be doubled if Dex liked it too .

Whatever the reason for his move,I can't see it being good for Middlesex but if it's good for Ryan may he join a long list of players I thought we should have kept who have left the best of luck at his now county except for when they are playing us.

Simple way of looking at this is if you have a strong youth group structure you must be prepared to give them a go if they are good enough at the highest level or like Higgo and Cam Steele watch them move on to counties prepared to invest further in their careers.

It is disappointing that Ryan Higgins’ departure to Gloucestershire is now official. It seems that Middlesex placed some effort to keep him, although it was to no avail. If Higgo feels that he will play more matches in 2018 at Glos than he would have played at Middlesex and would bat higher in the order at Glos, then that would surely be true. If he is looking to win limited-overs silverware, then he has surely made the right decision bearing in mind the amount of trophies they have won since 1999, plus of course we can testify to how dominant they are against us in Twenty20 matches. However, I would like to think he could have played a part in our quest to not only return to division one of the County Championship, but to regain our title of 2016. Assuming the two limited-overs competitions remain regionalised, Higgo will be due face us in all three competitions in 2018, so hopefully he won’t haunt us.

We are now looking for the long-term replacement for James Franklin in the position of all-rounder. In my previous post on this thread, I suggested George Scott could perform this role, although I admit I wrote this without having paid much attention to his 2nd XI performances. In fact, I made my judgement simply because he unexpectedly bowled two overs of medium pace in the Twenty20 match v Essex at Lord’s and dismissed the dangerous Ashar Zaidi, although admittedly he conceded 22 runs. As Scott today signed a contract (although I am not sure how long for), he will have an opportunity to develop his bowling and maybe become an all-rounder.

Gutted, Ryan looked a great prospect in all formats.
Signing Franklin for another year no doubt saw his patience run out...

Now that we can't get relegated in Div 2, I'd like to see a clear out of a few 'long in the tooth' senior pros in favour of blooding some youngsters. Higgo would definitely have been in my starting line up in all formats next season.

By the way, isn't this the same Gareth Berg that would never play again according to Middlesex??
Another great fu€k up by the club of course!!

On Cricinfo, David Hopps has written about how playing the Twenty20 in a block makes it harder for counties to field specialised sides in both the County Championship and Twenty20, and how it can unsettle players who only play in the Championship.

Certainly affected Eskinazi. He scored 718 runs @ 55.23 from 14 innings before the T20 Blast. Post Blast he scored 75 runs @ 7.5 from 11 innings reaching double figures just 3 times with a high score of 16. Eskinazi of course was largely ignored for T20 selection until the messiah left for the Caribbean Premier League.

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